I Don’t Write Ruby. A Fix I Sent Is Now in Forem.

Description and use

A non‑Ruby developer fixed a dashboard post‑count bug in Forem with AI help and CI, achieving a merged PR after 12 weeks.

Problem

A non‑Ruby developer wanted to contribute a bug fix to the Forem codebase but lacked Ruby knowledge and local test capability.

Outcome

The PR was merged after 12 weeks, correcting the dashboard post count and demonstrating that AI assistance can enable contributions from developers unfamiliar with the project's primary language.

Workflow

• 1. Identified issue #23687 on GitHub.
• 2. Used an AI coding assistant to understand the bug and generate a fix and tests.
• 3. Created a PR with the AI‑generated code and tests.
• 4. CI ran tests; initial failure was due to a test error, not code.
• 5. Signed the CLA and waited for maintainer review.
• 6. Reviewer approved, removed an unnecessary line, and merged the PR on Oct 20.
• 7. Received the DEV Contributor badge.

Evidence

The coding assistant identified the issue and told me how to fix it: the badge was including the count of statuses and archived posts, while the tab was not.

Source

The CI failed the first time, but the issue was in the test, not the code.

Source

After a while, I forgot about it, until I got a notification. Then a reviewer approved the PR on Oct 20 and noticed I had added a line I should not have.

Source